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29Such was the end of Agrippa, who had in every way clearly shown himself the noblest of the men of his day and had used the friendship of Augustus with a view to the greatest advantage both of the emperor himself and of the commonwealth. 2For the more he surpassed others in excellence, the more inferior he kept himself of his own free will to the emperor; and while he devoted all the wisdom and valour he himself possessed to the highest interests of Augustus, he lavished all the honour and influence he received from him upon benefactions to others. 3It was because of this in particular that he never became obnoxious to Augustus himself nor invidious to his fellow-citizens; on the contrary, he helped Augustus to establish the monarchy, as if he were really a devoted adherent of the principle of autocratic rule, and he won over the people by his benefactions, as if he were in the highest degree a friend of popular government. 4At any rate, even at his death he left them gardens and the baths named after him, so that they might bathe free of cost, and for this purpose gave Augustus certain estates. And the emperor not only turned these over to the state, but also distributed to the people four hundred sesterces apiece, giving it to be understood that Agrippa had so ordered. 5And, indeed, he had inherited most of Agrippa’s property, including the Chersonese on the Hellespont, which had come in some way or other into Agrippa’s hands. Augustus felt his loss for a long time and hence caused him to be honoured in the eyes of the people; and he named the posthumous son born to him Agrippa. 6Nevertheless, he did not allow the citizens at large, although none of the prominent men wished to attend the festivals, to omit any of the time-honoured observances, and he in person superintended the gladiatorial combats, though they were often held without his presence. 7The death of Agrippa, far from being merely a private loss to his own household, was at any rate such a public loss to all the Romans that portents occurred on this occasion in such numbers as are wont to happen to them before the greatest calamities. Owls kept flitting about the city, and lightning struck the house on the Alban Mount where the consuls lodge during the sacred rites. 8The star called the comet hung for several days over the city and was finally dissolved into flashes resembling torches. Many buildings in the city were destroyed by fire, among them the hut of Romulus, which was set ablaze by crows which dropped upon it burning meat from some altar.
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